Culture and Classification: An Introduction to Thinking about Ethical Issues of Adopting Global Classification Standards to Local Environments

Ethical issues arise from adapting standardized classification schemes to local environments. Research affirms mutual influences between culture and classification schemes, however, there are various conceptions of culture. Before diving deeper into discussions on designing a culturally sensitive model of classification and providing ethical information services, it is critical to clarify how culture is defined in the literature. In order to gain a deeper understanding of how scholars view the concept of culture, we review, compare, and aggregate discussions on culture from two bodies of literature: knowledge organization and anthropology. Based on the review, we then propose a working definition of culture for knowledge organization research. This definition points to areas of further research concerning culture, ethics, and knowledge organization

An Exploratory Study of the Subject Ontogeny of Eugenics in the New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries and the Nippon Decimal Classification

This study explores the subject ontogeny of “eugenics” by documenting the class numbers for “eugenics” in all thirteen editions of the New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries (CCL), and all fourteen editions of the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC). The CCL and the NDC are the major classification schemes used in Taiwan and Japan respectively. We observe the relative stability and concentration of class numbers assigned to “eugenics” in the CCL and the NDC comparing to DDC (Tennis 2012), and the semantic changes of class numbers over time. Using two union catalogs, Taiwan’s National Bibliographic Information Network (NBINet) and Japan’s National Diet Library (NDL) Search, we retrieve bibliographic records with “eugenics” (優生學 and 優生学) as subject heading. We compare the class numbers extracted from the bibliographic records and the numbers assigned in the schemes of corresponding editions. It shows the difference between the theoretical frameworks of the schemes and the catalogers’ applications. This study highlights the temporal aspect of classification schemes and how it may influence the organization and retrieval of information. It also sheds light on some limitations of current catalogs

Cataloging practices through an ethnographic lens: workarounds, disagreements, and manifestations of culture

Cataloging models emphasize selective aspects of cataloging and serve the purposes of conceptual debates and theoretical developments. Many complexities, uncertainties, dilemmas, challenges, and “rare” scenarios that catalogers encounter in practice are not presented in the models. To study cataloging practices, the author presents cataloging scenarios observed from an ongoing fieldwork. Through weekly participatory observations and unstructured interviews of catalogers, the work presents cases among the diverse and complex cataloging practices, and surfaces the tensions and time involved in cataloging. This paper will focus on three themes: workarounds, disagreements, and manifestations of culture in cataloging practice. The first scenario describes a non-linear cataloging process and the different workarounds applied. The workarounds highlight the tacit knowledge of experienced catalogers. The second scenario shows catalogers’ different perspectives about the authorship of stone rubbings. Disagreements, negotiation, and compromises in cataloging process are often not documented or explained. This scenario examines cataloging contexts that we cannot observe from analyzing cataloging standards or records. The third scenario describes the proposal of a Library of Congress Demographic Group Term (LCDGT): Zhiqing, and how it was approved as a LCSH: Zhiqing generation instead. The term encompasses a combination of regional, temporal, and cultural aspects of a demographic group. In the proposal process, I identified cultural manifestations in cataloging process through observing “the missing pieces” and local adaptations. This study contributes to the knowledge organization literature by presenting cataloging scenarios that require prolonged engagement to study

Three Questions Concerning the Foundation of Multi-perspective Classification

This paper contributes to the discussion of the purposes and functions of multi-perspective classification by raising foundational questions. Starting from the motivations of developing multi-perspective classification, the author discusses questions concerning the accommodation of different perspectives. The discussion leads to the question “what is multi-perspective classification?” and envisions a possible amelioration. Through discussing the three questions concerning the foundation of multi-perspective classification, the goal is to identify challenges and thoughts for developing multi-perspective classification before focusing on specific implementations

C(sp2)–H Functionalizations Employing 2-Aminophenyl-1H-pyrazole as a New Removable Directing Group

2-Aminophenyl-1H-pyrazole (2-APP) was discovered as a novel removable bidentate directing group for copper-mediated aerobic oxidative C(sp2)–H bond amidation and sulfonamidation bearing a wide range of sulfonamides, When Cu(OAc)2 was employed as the copper source, 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine (TMG) as an organic base, the reaction, optimally carried out overnight in DMSO at 80 °C in open air, produced a variety of products in moderate to excellent yields. In addition, C(sp2)–H bond chlorination has been developed by using this auxiliary, employing trichloroacetamide as a new chlorine source. Furthermore, this unprecedented directing group also can assist copper-mediated regio-selective hydroxylation, and ortho-alkynylation/annulation by using Cu(OAc)2 as an oxidant

Linking, Mapping, Matching, and Change: Contemporary Use of Ranganathan’s Three Planes of Work in Classification Activity

Scholars have identified interoperability issues in mapping metadata in a linked data environment (Zeng 2019). This study builds on previous research and proposes a creative use of Ranganathan’s (1989) three planes of work in classification activity. By extending the application of the three planes of work to the linked data environment, we can use this conceptual model as an analytical tool to highlight particular mapping challenges. This paper uses three cases to show how discrepancies between the idea plane, verbal plane, and notational plane may cause mapping issues. Further, we can see that mapping issues are not limited to differences between metadata standards. The three planes of work can highlight mapping issues that are caused by changes at different planes of the same metadata. The challenges presented in this study complement the known mapping issues, and contribute to the discussion of interoperability in linking, mapping, matching, and change in metadata

Conflicts of Semantic Warrants in Cataloging Practices

This study presents preliminary themes surfaced from an ongoing ethnographic study. The research question is: how and where do cultures influence the cataloging practices of using U.S. standards to catalog Chinese materials? The author applies warrant as a lens for evaluating knowledge representation systems, and extends the application from examining classificatory decisions to cataloging decisions. Semantic warrant as a conceptual tool allows us to recognize and name the various rationales behind cataloging decisions, grants us explanatory power, and the language to "visualize" and reflect on the conflicting priorities in cataloging practices. Through participatory observation, the author recorded the cataloging practices of two Chinese catalogers working on the same cataloging project. One of the catalogers is U.S. trained, and another cataloger is a professor of Library and Information Science from China, who is also a subject expert and a cataloger of Chinese special collections. The study shows how the catalogers describe Chinese special collections using many U.S. cataloging and classification standards but from different approaches. The author presents particular cases derived from the fieldwork, with an emphasis on the many layers presented by cultures, principles, standards, and practices of different scope, each of which may represent conflicting warrants. From this, it is made clear that the conflicts of warrants influence cataloging practice. We may view the conflicting warrants as an interpretation of the tension between different semantic warrants and the globalization and localization of cataloging standards

Cataloging Practices through an Ethnographic Lens: Workarounds, Disagreements, and Manifestations of Culture

Cataloging models emphasize selective aspects of cataloging and serve the purposes of conceptual debates and theoretical developments. Many complexities, uncertainties, dilemmas, challenges, and “rare” scenarios that catalogers encounter in practice are not presented in the models. To study cataloging practices, the author presents cataloging scenarios observed from an ongoing fieldwork. Through weekly participatory observations and unstructured interviews of catalogers, the work presents cases among the diverse and complex cataloging practices, and surfaces the tensions and time involved in cataloging. This paper will focus on three themes: workarounds, disagreements, and manifestations of culture in cataloging practice. The first scenario describes a non-linear cataloging process and the different workarounds applied. The workarounds highlight the tacit knowledge of experienced catalogers. The second scenario shows catalogers’ different perspectives about the authorship of stone rubbings. Disagreements, negotiation, and compromises in cataloging process are often not documented or explained. This scenario examines cataloging contexts that we cannot observe from analyzing cataloging standards or records. The third scenario describes the proposal of a Library of Congress Demographic Group Term (LCDGT): Zhiqing, and how it was approved as a LCSH: Zhiqing generation instead. The term encompasses a combination of regional, temporal, and cultural aspects of a demographic group. In the proposal process, I identified cultural manifestations in cataloging process through observing “the missing pieces” and local adaptations. This study contributes to the knowledge organization literature by presenting cataloging scenarios that require prolonged engagement to study

The Style of Tetris is…Possibly Tetris?: Creative Professionals’ Description of Video Game Visual Styles

Despite the increasing importance of video games in both cultural and commercial aspects, typically they can only be accessed and browsed through limited metadata such as platform or genre. We explore visual styles of games as a complementary approach for providing access to games. In particular, we aimed to test and evaluate the existing visual style taxonomy developed in prior research with video game professionals and creatives. User data were collected from video game art and design students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology to gain insight into the relevance of the existing taxonomy to a professional audience. Using a think-aloud card sort method, we observed their thought process for describing and categorizing visual styles of video games, and also collected candidate terms for revising the taxonomy. The results of this research will inform ongoing metadata work in the field to develop a standard for cataloging video games and interactive media, and will be useful to information systems that sort and classify games for users and cultural preservation

Old medium, new design : in search of alternative aesthetics of Taiwanese aboriginal woven textiles in theatrical costume designs

The main purpose of this practice-led research is to explore the relevance of present day Taiwanese aboriginal weavers’ work to contemporary society and how it might be integrated into today’s production processes, and used on stage as well as in exhibition. My research focuses on my costume design work for two theatrical productions, Africussion and Romeo and Juliet, for which the costumes were made with traditional Taiwanese aboriginal woven textiles, and is based on the assumption that the process of costume design affords a space to explore other aesthetic possibilities for aboriginal woven textiles, and that the theatre provides a context in which the conventional conceptions of Taiwanese aboriginal textile design can be challenged, broken apart and renewed. This research deals with both the theoretical and the practical considerations that apply to aboriginal weaving, and examines the intellectual traditions of the philosophy of art and aesthetics to be found in its theory and application. My thesis challenges the notion upheld by many of today’s aboriginal weavers that their ‘traditions’ are fixed and unchangeable, and argues for the importance of individual creativity if modern, contemporary needs and tastes in textiles are to be met by materials woven in the aboriginal way. My practice-led research is grounded on the techniques of aboriginal backstrap loom and weaving and basket weaving, which were learned from aboriginal weavers in a 20-month tribal fieldwork. This project approaches aboriginal woven textiles as artistic objects in the context of theatre productions and performances instead of as mere commercial entities. It also argues that theatrical costume design is much more than just the making of simple costumes that complement performances